One Man Lives in a Ghost Town

A deserted western town with historic buildings under a clear blue sky — Photo: Fotomicar / Shutterstock

A man spent his life savings and took out a high-interest loan to buy an entire ghost town, and years later he’s still the only person living there full time.

Quick Take

Brent Underwood bought Cerro Gordo, an abandoned silver-mining town in California, for $1.4 million in 2018.
He used his life savings plus a high-interest loan, alongside partners and investors, to close the deal.
A 2020 fire destroyed the town’s historic American Hotel, but Underwood has since rebuilt it.
He now lives alone on the 380-acre property with no cell service, trucking in water for basic survival.
His YouTube channel documenting the restoration has drawn millions of views and turned the project into a public spectacle.

A Silver Town Gets a Second Owner

Cerro Gordo sits high in the mountains above Death Valley, once a booming 19th-century silver-mining camp. Brent Underwood, who ran a backpacking hostel in Austin, Texas, purchased the town along with a partner and outside investors in 2018 for $1.4 million. He financed the deal using his own savings and a hard-money loan, a costly type of short-term financing.

The goal, according to the town’s own website, was never to flip the property for profit. It was to “preserve its history, restore its buildings, and open the town to visitors once again”. That mission has shaped every decision Underwood has made since, from which buildings to fix first to how he spends his days on the mountain.

Rebuilding After Disaster

The project hit a major setback on June 15, 2020, when fire destroyed the town’s centerpiece, the American Hotel. The building had stood since the 1870s. Rather than abandon the restoration, Underwood rebuilt it, and later coverage describes the hotel being reconstructed with guest rooms, a bar, and a restaurant planned for future visitors.

Underwood’s plans go beyond one building. He has described wanting to open a hotel and eight cabins for tourists, giving visitors a place to stay overnight in a town that had sat empty for decades. That vision requires him to manage 380 acres of land that include unstable old mine shafts and buildings that need constant upkeep.

Life With No Water or Cell Service

Living at Cerro Gordo means giving up basic conveniences most people take for granted. The town has no natural water source, so water must be trucked in for drinking, cleaning, and construction work. There is also no cell service, cutting Underwood off from routine contact with the outside world for stretches at a time.

Despite the isolation, Underwood has stayed committed to being the property’s sole full-time resident. He has spoken openly in interviews about the emotional weight of the project, describing both the loneliness of the work and the sense of purpose he says he found in it. That candor has become part of what draws public attention to the story.

Turning Restoration Into a Public Story

Underwood’s YouTube channel, which he started in April 2020 to document his daily life at Cerro Gordo, has become central to how the public learns about the project. Millions of views have followed his videos showing construction work, mine exploration, and town history, turning a remote restoration effort into an ongoing online series.

That visibility has also brought people to the mountain in person. A recent uphill race event at Cerro Gordo drew roughly 200 to 220 participants along with more than 100 volunteers, according to coverage of the event. Organizers used the gathering to build interest in the town’s revival and bring new supporters into the preservation effort.

Public financial records on the project remain limited. Reporting has repeated the $1.4 million purchase price, though at least one account mistakenly listed the figure as $14 million, showing how easily numbers can get garbled as the story spreads. No detailed accounting of restoration costs or revenue from tourism has been made public, leaving the project’s long-term finances outside the reach of outside verification.